Vitamins and Nutrition

And Absorption Of Nutrients From Your Food

By Beth Dorsey L.Ac, FABORM

If you suffer from heartburn, malabsorption, constipation or diarrhea, you may want to know about a concept called Food Hygiene. Despite its name, food hygiene has nothing to do with the cleanliness of your food. It has everything to do with improving your digestion, absorption of nutrients from your food, the ease of your bowel movements, and your overall experience of eating food. Here are 6 ways to optimize your digestion:

1) Spend time preparing your food. Digestion does not begin in the stomach, nor in the mouth during chewing. Digestion actually starts in the head with a cascade of nerve signaling and chemicals. The cascade is triggered in part by our experience of preparing our food—thinking about it, touching it, smelling it, tasting it—taking it in with all of our senses causes us to salivate, our stomach to create the stomach acid, our pancreas to release the enzymes, and our gallbladder to create bile needed for digestion. This cascade is not triggered with the same force by the opening of a package or by picking up an already prepared meal. If eating on the go, take a moment to take it all in (like you would if you were preparing it yourself). This will allow you to break down and absorb the nutrients from your food more efficiently and completely.

2) Enjoy ½ teaspoon of apple cider vinegar (or other bitters) ideally about 15 minutes before eating. The smell and taste of the vinegar in your mouth will also promote the digestive cascade. Specifically, it triggers a digestive hormone, cholecystokinin, to be released and this causes the digestive juices and enzymes of the stomach, pancreas and intestines to be released. It preps the whole body to be ready to break down and absorb food. Sometimes patients who have experienced acid reflux in the past may worry that it will be too acidic for them. This is not so. Although we think of apple cider vinegar as acidic, it is much less so than stomach acid. In fact, it often greatly improves reflux by tonifying the overall action of digestion. There are many approaches to treating the cause of acid reflux without proton pump inhibitors or antacids, which only cover up the symptom of an imbalance and can predispose you to osteoporosis and as well as to other preventable conditions. The apple cider vinegar is not a permanent ritual, but one that if people do for a few months while digestion is getting back on track, and also at times when they are unable to prepare a meal, they can benefit from that stimulus to digestion. Apple cider vinegar is also an excellent source of minerals and has many other health benefits, so if you choose to make it a lifelong ritual, more power to you.

3) Drink fluids AWAY from food. It’s ok to take small sips of water as needed during a meal, but don’t chug a whole glass. Try to avoid drinking substantial amounts within 20 minutes before or after a meal. The idea behind this is very simple. It allows the digestive juices to stay concentrated and therefore better able to break down food. Better break down of food allows for better availability and absorption of nutrients. This is one way that conditions of nutrient deficiency, such as anemia, are linked to the way food is eaten. Still, please aim to drink half of your body weight in ounces of water per day; just try to do it between meals.

4) Eat in a calm environment, eat sitting down, take a few calm conscious breaths first, avoid stressful conversations and concentrate on your food rather than a newspaper, a computer screen or other work. These suggestions are all designed to relax your nervous system. Input from the nervous system impacts digestion in the extreme. So often, we’re eating on the go, and our bodies are in flight or fight, stress mode. That is a stressed out, danger mode where your body is on alert; it is what kept our ancestors safe from predators. When in this mode, the body perceives that it has bigger priorities than digestion. In fact, the body shunts blood away from the digestive system and into the limbs, so that we can run for our lives if we need to. The opposite state has been referred to as “rest and digest.” In other words, for proper digestion to occur, the nervous system needs to be calm and relatively stress-free. Anything you can do to temporarily create this environment for yourself while you eat, will help a lot.

5) Eat regular meals around the same time every day. This simply gets your body in the habit of anticipating food and beginning the digestive cascade. This can also help greatly with blood sugar balancing and cortisol regulation. Unbalanced blood sugar (too high, too low, or simply not even) can contribute to anxiousness, fatigue and light-headedness, among other symptoms. Cortisol dysregulation can have devastating, long- term effects on your energy, sleep patterns and immune system. Eating regular meals contributes to overall harmony and rhythm in the body, two things which are generally lacking and needing to be reinstated in people suffering from anxiousness or depression.

6) Put your fork down and CHEW. Chew your food until it becomes liquid in your mouth, then swallow it. Some people say chew each bite 31 times, but we don’t really want you to count each chew. That takes the fun out of eating. Chewing your food until it liquifies allows the food to begin being digested both chemically through the saliva and mechanically by your teeth before hitting the stomach. Thorough breakdown in the beginning means better absorption of nutrients from your food, and easier bowel movements in the end. When food isn’t properly broken down in the mouth, it can easily ferment in the gut, causing pathogenic bacteria to flourish. When you chew thoroughly, you will be able to notice when you are full much easier, rather than shoveling in the food and overeating.

Start with fostering just one or two of these habits and eventually they will become just that—habits. You might start with eating breakfast at the same time every day, sitting down, taking a few conscious breaths and committing to chewing at least the first five forkfuls thoroughly. Over time you can add in more of these habits, and your digestion, as well as overall health, well benefit greatly.

Ramona Richards is available at Way of Life for free nutritional advice

What is really the question?

by Ramona A. Richard, BA, NC

A decade or two ago we were told to supplement with calcium to prevent bone loss and avoid osteoporosis. We bought a bottle of calcium. Several years later we were told to take magnesium as well; magnesium is needed to help balance calcium in the body. OK. We next bought a bottle of Cal-Mag. Some years later, we learned that we needed vitamin D in order for the calcium to get fully absorbed. We dutifully bought Cal-Mag with D.

Now we hear that taking calcium is associated with a risk for heart disease! A European study of 24,000 patients, reported in the journal Heart1 in June of this year, linked calcium supplementation with heart attacks. Support my bones or my heart? Are we confused yet???

In order to make sense of all this, we need to look at the mechanism by which calcium can contribute to heart disease. Indeed, we need look no further than the artery walls. Calcium is known to collect in arteries. This contributes to the plaquing that we know as atherosclerosis, precursor to heart attacks. Meanwhile, our bones are starving for calcium! But to advise that we should stop taking calcium is to miss the larger point. That larger point involves a nutrient known as vitamin K2 or menaquinone. This is the real question: How can we get calcium safely into our bones and keep it away from soft tissues, like arteries? K2 basically funnels calcium into the bones to strengthen mineral density and fight fractures while it prevents and even removes dangerous arterial calcifications. As Dr. Kate Rhéaume-Bleue, Naturopath and authority on vitamin K2 points out, “there is more than a coincidental association between brittle bones and hardened arteries.”

Vitamin K2 activates a protein in our bones called osteocalcin, whose job is to grab calcium and incorporate it into the bone matrix. Without K2, osteocalcin is not activated and bone density is compromised. K2 also activates a protein in our artery walls called matrix GLA protein, which prevents calcium from depositing in the artery. A deficiency of K2, then, allows soft tissue calcification and weakened bones

Did our grandmothers have these issues, we might ask? Did they have vitamin K2 available to protect their bones and their arteries? Sources of K2, indeed, used to be abundant in the human diet. Vitamin K2 is found in the fats of animals allowed to graze on green pastures. This includes the marbling of meats from pastured cows, the butter, cream and cheese made from their milk, the egg yolk of chickens allowed to peck freely, the lard of grass-fed animals in general. (It is also found in the Japanese food, natto—a food most Americans find unpalatable.) It is now easy to understand why we are so deficient that osteoporosis and cardiovascular disease are rampant. These are the very foods we have been taught are dangerous to our health! Current scientific literature has, fortunately, debunked the idea that saturated fat produces heart disease. However, our cows and chickens are now raised in confined quarters and fed grains, a situation that does not allow production of K2 in their fats. We have efficiently eliminated this important vitamin from our diets and sadly are paying the price.

Supplementing with Vitamin K2 has become not only important but critical. (see sidebar for supplements available at Way of Life) K2 supplements come in several forms: menaquinone -7 (MK-7) and menaquinone-4 (MK-4) are the most common. MK-7 is preferable as it stays in the blood stream much longer than MK-4. K2 supplementation is an easy way to correct this significant deficiency, make calcium supplements safe, strengthen our bones and protect our arteries!

Ramona Richard, BA, NC is a Certified Nutrition Consultant and life-long resident of Santa Cruz County. She owns Radiance, Diet & Nutrition Education, a consulting company and serves as Practitioner at Way of Life, in Capitola. Ramona can be reached at Way of Life at 464-4113 or at ramonaann9@gmail.com

Ramona will be speaking at the Fall Way of Life Health lecture series on the topic Digging Deeper into the Calcium Supplementation Issue: A comprehensive look at building bone density, Tuesday September 25th 7:30-9:00PM. Save the date!

Feeling moody, anxious or depressed are normal emotions that come and go with living life — until they become chronic. Insomnia and cravings may be signals of unmet emotional needs until they just won’t go away. Our body sends zillions of messages in an attempt to maintain balance. Given the necessary raw materials, the human brain automatically manufactures the types and quantity of chemicals needed to handle the ups and downs of life, growth, and even exceptional stress. But when symptoms become chronic, they may be a strong indicator that body chemistry needs improving. Seeing a qualified health care professional can be a vital step in finding a solution but there are also everyday steps one can take to maintain a natural balance.

Our brain uses large quantities of chemicals called neurotransmitters. Neurotransmitters keep us alert and action-ready. But due to modern-day stress, lifestyle and dietchoices, our brain can run out of the necessary chemicals needed to maintain healthy functioning. Stress and poor diet can be pinpointed as some of the main culprits.

Stress is a normal part of the animal world. When a rabbit runs from a fox, his body signals the threat. In an attempt to be efficient, neurotransmitters, in a blink of an eye, put life-protecting reflexes in motion. Flee, fight or freeze are essential survival responses.

But when an animal flees, it doesn’t stop to smell the lush green grass or taste the juicy berries. All of its sensory perceptions are geared up and focusing on safety. Once safe, recovery begins. Shaking, bathing and a deep state of rest are the body’s means of getting rid of excess and unnecessary chemicals. It is Mother Nature’s way of shifting from the sympathetic (survival mode) back to every day parasympathetic (relaxation mode).

Lifestyle choices and poor diet disrupt neurotransmitters functions. Where the hunter-gathers stress was primarily physical, our modern-day stress is of a different nature. Traffic, TV, video games and other forms of perceptual stimulants can bombard the body with subtle cues. Exposure to mercury, lead and other heavy metals has been found to have a profound effect on neurotransmitters.
Recently, researchers at the University Of Calgary Medical School Of Medicine demonstrated via microscopic video how growing brain neurons begin to dramatically wither within 20 minutes after exposure to even minor levels of mercury. Chemical foods such as aspartame, NutraSweet and the multitude of preservatives and additives found in soda, gums, mints and many packaged foods release chemicals that disrupt neurotransmitter functions, according to studies.
According to Dr. Russell L. Blaylock, professor of neurosurgery at the University of Mississippi’s medical center and author of “Excitotoxins: The Taste That Kills,” aspartate and glutamate (found in the chemically related substance MSG) are neurotransmitters normally found in the brain and spinal cord, but when aspartate reaches certain levels it causes the death of brain neurons.

Otto Loewi, an Austrian scientist, discovered the first neurotransmitter back in 1921. Built primarily from amino acids, the building blocks of proteins, neurotransmitters are constantly being created. With a limited ability to store proteins, we need a constant source of high quality whole-food proteins to constantly rebuild, repair and function well.

Adrenaline-pumping substances such as coffee, sugar and chocolate, along with a lack of nutritionally supportive foods, can drive neurotransmitters to dysfunction. Processed fast food consumed on the run may put many people on the fast track to being overwhelmed.

Feeding our neurotransmitters includes exercising the art of relaxation. A natural soothing environment helps calm high levels of stress. Taking warm baths, an evening walk, enjoying a cup of herbal tea and making time to be with loved ones or simply by our self helps us to regain chemical perspective.

Slowing down and sitting down is another way to reap the benefits of what you eat. By feeling calm, we are better able to actually assimilate and utilize the food we eat. Most important is eating whole foods rich in protein. If a child goes off to school having consumed a quick bowl of sugar cereal with 2 percent milk, they have ingested a substance not only too high in carbohydrates but too low in proteins. The body will not receive the amino acids essential to fuel let alone rebuild neurotransmitters.

When eating a salad for lunch, including a hard-boiled egg, whey shake or adding two or three ounces of chicken, turkey, fish, cheese can mean the world of difference to our brain chemistry. For most of us, protein should show up in all three meals.

Way of Life nutritional consultant and Bauman College of Nutrition instructor Ramona Richard explains, “If we lack adequate protein, our body simply cannot build the neurotransmitters it needs. Rather than needing to rely on chemical drugs such as Prozac, we may be experiencing a deficiency of one or more neurotransmitters. Over time chronic imbalances can even contribute to more serious conditions such as panic attacks, eating disorders and attention deficits.”
Keeping neurotransmitters in good supply is required if we are to feel content, peaceful, happy and joyful — our birthright as human beings.

The saying you are what you eat is true. The foods you ingest become the cells that make up and fuel your body. Your diet dictates your level of energy, mood, and how easily/quickly you heal from illness. So, why do people who eat a well balanced diet continue not to feel good?

The reason is that ingestion is only the first step in getting nutrients into your system. After ingestion, your body must digest, assimilate, and distribute those nutrients to all of your cells. When your gastrointestinal health is poor, all the fruits and veggies in the world won’t do you much good because your body can’t access the nutrients.

Dysbiosis is the term used to describe an imbalance in gut flora. This can mean there is a deficiency of “good” bacteria, such as the stuff in yogurt and fermented foods or an overabundance of “bad” bacteria like candida and H.Pylori.

There are many causes of dysbiosis – antibiotics, analgesics (like Tylenol), and acid blocking medications are some common causes. Other causes include chronic stress and worry, high sugar/carbohydrate intake, toxins from the environment (such as pesticides in food and chlorine in water), consuming inflammatory type foods, and low acid production in the stomach.

After years of chronic dysbiosis, the lining of the gastrointestinal tract becomes weak and what is called “leaky gut” ensues. When leaky gut sets in, the body’s immune system begins to recognize foods as foreign invaders instead of nutrients. This sets a chain reaction that results in inflammation and dis-ease.

Aside from GI discomfort such as gas, bloating, and unhealthy bowel movements, there are many other illnesses associated with dysbiosis: autoimmune disease, arthritis, allergies, mood disorders (anxiety, depression), chronic sinusitis, autistic spectrum disorders, and fibromyalgia to name a few.

Rebalancing gut flora begins with probiotics. I recommend taking a high dose of quality probiotic daily. If candida or H.Pylori have invaded, these pathogens need to be treated with dietary changes and anti-microbial herbs, such as black walnut and pau d’arco. A stool test can reveal which type of candida is present and which herbs can best be used to eradicate it. Glutamine, slippery elm, and zinc picolinate are proven to help heal a leaky gut lining. Digestive enzymes are also helpful in supporting the body in digestion and nutrient assimilation.

While there are some good general habits to get into to prevent dysbiosis, treating gastrointestinal imbalance is not a one-size fits all approach. For example, many kids on the autistic spectrum lack an enzyme called DPPIV (dipeptidyl-peptidase IV). This enzyme is necessary to break down wheat (gluten) and dairy (casein). These children will need to also avoid wheat and dairy for their GI imbalance to improve.

Because we are all unique beings, the best treatment can be found by pinpointing the exact cause of the imbalance for each individual. Only then can we remove the cause of illness and develop a treatment plan to support each individual’s innate ability to heal – mind, body, and spirit.

Most of us rely on natural supplements and foods to rejuvenate our minds and bodies and strengthen our immune system. To imagine a life without these supplements seems rather drastic, but unless someone takes off the blinders that the FDA is wearing so stubbornly, this could well become a reality.

As shocking as it sounds, the FDA is on a banning spree, and they’re taking their cues from the EU. A number of natural supplements and traditional herbs such as St. John’s Wort and Valerian were recently banned in UK. The EU has also banned traditional Chinese and Indian medicines, which are known to have some very good restorative properties and can cause no harm if taken in the right proportions.

If the FDA follows in the footsteps of its European counterpart, chances are that many natural supplements that we’ve been relying on heavily, especially those that were formulated after 1994, could well be shown the door.

What the FDA is Doing

The story begins in 1994, when the FDA was forced to stop regulating dietary supplements by the government by the implementation of a law known as DSHEA. This law also required manufacturers of dietary supplements to inform the FDA whenever they used a new ingredient in their supplements. However, it was never quite clear how dietary sup- plement manufacturers were supposed to notify the FDA, and the New Dietary Ingredient (NDI) rules had remained an ignored subsection until recently.

The FDA has decided to implement NDI very recently, which effectively means that all dietary supplements with new ingredients since 1994 are no longer valid. Armed with the new implementation or enforcement of these old rules, the FDA stands poised to virtually destroy the natural and nutritional supplements industry.

Already Banned or In The Danger Zone

Some natural supplements are already in the danger zone and are being touted by the FDA as unsafe. The FDA went as far as to seizing labels and threatening many companies with arrest. Some of the products that have been deemed unsafe by the FDA are:

Probiotics – The FDA says that manufacturers of probiotics make false claims regarding treatment or control of possible health issues such as colds, flu, respiratory infections, ulcers, etc.

Elderberry juice – According to the FDA, elderberry juice falls under the category of those supplements that wrongfully lead a person to avoid seeking legitimate treatment.

Pyridoxamine – This common form of Vitamin B6 has already gone under the hammer in 2009.

According to the FDA, these nutritional supplements are harmful because they can interfere with other drugs that people might be taking. What probably irks most is the FDA’s assumption that it knows what’s best for the people. Do they really?

Why the FDA is banning supplements?

The answer is easy- money. If more people start using natural supplements, they will have better immunity, and fewer people will get sick. A healthy nation rings the death knell for pharmaceutical companies. By implementing this ban, the FDA is trying to ensure the survival of pharmaceutical companies, at the risk of destroying the natural supplement industry. If you know even a little about big league drug companies, you know that they’re all about ‘curing’ diseases, and that no one really cares about ‘preventing’ them.

On the other hand, natural medicines, herbs, and supplements that are considered as alternative medicine actually cost way less than their chemical counterparts and have fewer or no side effects. However, the FDA has chosen to ignore this important aspect and has taken a strict stance toward natural remedies. In fact, they have started threatening companies selling natural products, seizing some of these products from manufacturers and threatening these practitioners with financial penalties and injunctions.

If you think this is a conspiracy theory, what would you say about the FDA already changing some of the NDI rules, wherein synthetic drugs do not need any notification or approval?

Yes, you heard that right. According to the FDA, drug companies that use synthetic copies of natural molecules are exempt from the whole rigmarole of reporting additions of new ingredients to their products. If this doesn’t sound like the selective enforcement of rules, then what does?